Description:
21 pieces of matte black terra cotta of varied size and shape intended to be stacked whichever way the installer wants; abstract
Label Text:
Louise Nevelson's "Moving-Static-Moving" consists of twenty-one abstract shapes fired in clay, with no prescription for their arrangement. They are among hundreds which Nevelson and her assistants produced beginning in the late 1940s, always in her characteristic black which, as she once explained, helped her discern shape and form more easily. Their worn, pitted surfaces are perhaps inspired by the artist's interest in Aztec and Mayan ruins in Mexico, and her drive to produce an elemental, even "primitive" expression.
Nevelson gave this work to Smith College upon receiving her honorary degree in 1973, leaving no specific instructions on how the pieces should be displayed. Thus, the forms can be arranged in different configurations, ranging from dense and tightly interlocked to scattered and open. In this way, "Moving-Static-Moving" allows the viewer to explore the changing sculptural elements of shape, mass, texture, and silhouette.
Tags:
abstract; architecture Subjects:
Architecture; Art, Abstract; Terra-cotta Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=SC+1973.27.3 |
